Korea fly fishing

Today was my first day on the water here in Korea. Been in country since 10 October. Didn't do well at all, in fact I got skunked. I had to walk from my base, Humphreys, about 40 minutes to the closes river. Saw a few Korean families fishing with what looked like high tech cane poles and worms. They had a few fish in their nets each about 9 inches long. Not sure of the species. I did see a large carp looking fish spdone to surface but nothing liked any of the flies I was throwing. Black wholly burger, charchuse rabbit fur leach, and a few top water bugs. Not even a nibble... I did get a lot of looks once I put the rod together and started casting. I was the most popular guy on the river!! Until I was unable to produce fish.. Easy come easy go.. Popularity is so hard to hold on to...

Anyone here have any pointers on oatterns or locations? The hardest thing for me to over come is not being allowed to own a vehicle while I'm here. Gonna be a long year..

This is shameful to say but next weekend I will be looking for an indoor fishing pond in Seoul... Look what I've been driven to... I MISS WASHINGTON!!!! FORT LEWIS IS MY RETURN DUTY STATION.. I CAN NOT WAIT TO PCS BACK THERE NEXT OCTOBER!!

I was stationed at Camp Humphreys back in 1990. Man, I didn't see any water that was worth fishing, but I was probably more interested in drinking SoJu since I was 20 years old. That was a cool place, enjoy the food and the people.

I'm curious, how far off base did you have to go to find fishing? Down south toward Taegu (sp?) seemed like it might have some cool opportunities. Or the salt water on the East coast maybe.

James my friend. I have the key for you. You'll get all the fish you can handle. Here's what you do.

Grab your 5wt. Make sure it's strung nicely. Get all your flies tied up, boxes filled, and organized in your boxes by style/type, etc. Load up your vest or whatever you're using so you have all your flyfishing needs at hand. Grab your net, make sure it's not frayed and the bail is in good condition. Make your way to the nearest body of water.

When you get there. Put all your fly gear down on the ground. Grab your backpack that you stole from the Ordinance room and open it up. Grab the concussion grenades, pull the pin and release any safeties, and toss into that body of water. Grab the net and scoop up the fish. You're golden my friend.

I got some beta from a guide on where and how to fish around Jinju. There are barbels, notchmouths, largemouth bass, bluegills, snakeheads, river tarpon, and Mandarin fish in the river. I never had a chance to fish it though as I was planning to be over there for work recently and the trip fell through. It is a bit of a trek for Seoul, but shoot me a PM if you are interested.

James--I am currently at hump as well, I didn't bring my gear but I did bring my tying gear with me. Hit me up and I will do some exploring with you some time.

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Cool beans. I just got my fly tying gear delivered on Monday. I am in 304th ESB, where are you? I have walked to the river, about a 30-45 minute, walk north. I didn't catch anything but saw some Korean family with fish in their baskets. This weekend, probably Sunday, I have to get on a bus and head to Yongsan and look for an indoor fishing pond.. I know it's not the best thing in the world but it may provide a small fix to my fishing dependency.

Ladies and gentleman here are two pictures of a couple of my catches today.. Our fish were so big that as we took pictures of them even our cameras became heavier. These fish were huge.. The camera angle may make it appear that they are around 8-9 inches but keep in mind that cameras can be deceiving. I am sure "Mabism" will also post his Monster Fish pictures soon.. ESPN has already purchased the copy rights to these Monster Fish pictures so cut/copy at your own fish of being in violation of copy right laws... But please feel free to look on in awwwwww...... LMAO.

I finally made it out to another pay pond here in Korea. They longest trip ever!!!!

0330 wake up
0500 called taxi to get to the walk out gate
0520 taxi company texts and says no cabs available
0521 begin 3+ mile run to back gate in order to catch bus to Pyeongteck train station
0600 barely make bus
0632 get on subway to God knows where..
0900 just catch bus 300 as its pulling away from bus terminal
0930 realize on right bus but going wrong dirrection
0948 jump on another bus 300 going the right direction
1100 get to next transfer station
1115 bus 37-31 passes by bus stop without stoping. leaving myself and 8 Koreans stranded. apparently we didn't wave our hand enough to get the drivers attention.
1118 Google best route to get to the pay pond.. Google laughs and says start over...
1120 I begin 8 mile road march to the pay pond
1320 I arrive at the pay pond which is actually a lake that has a portion of it netted off in order to allow for fishing and no ice to build up. I PAY THE $20.00 ENTRY FEE. The rest of the lake is frozen and people are walking on it
1330-1620 I fish. I catch a couple fish that just so happen to eat anything that resembles a pellet.. They are schooled and stacked in every conner of the pond. By the was is the size of two olympic size swimming pools next to each other... TOTAL LET DOWN...
1620 begin break down of gear and prepare for another 5 mile road march to the closest bus stop, to catch the LAST bus, in order to get home before I miss all my transfers and miss Army curfew.

2040 In the end I made it home...

I do have some GoPro video of my trip but I am still learning to use it and cannot load then to the site yet... If you have any pointers please let me know..